Materials

200 foot static rope, 2 rappel rings, 60 feet of webbing, 3 liters of water, water purifier, food, first aid, camera, cell phone, GPS, fleece jackets, dry-bag, helmets, headlamps, harnesses, lots of carabineers, ascension kit, prussic loops, chain reactors

Start

We began by parking exactly 9 miles from the intersection of Foothill Blvd. and Oro Vista Rd on Big Tujunga Road. We parked at a turnout on Big Tujunga road (34 16.966 N,118 12.605 W). We walked maybe a few hundred feet down to where there was a barrier on the left side of the road. We followed a poorly maintained trail near the barrier (34 17.041 N,118 12.508 W) down to the canyon bottom and walked through a drainage tunnel under Tujunga Road. At the end of the tunnel was the first rappel.


Rappel 1

A small tree and metal post embedded in concrete provided fine anchors for the first rappel. We used webbing to rap an equalized anchor. We both rappelled about 70 feet to the bottom of the bone dry waterfall. At this point, before pulling the rope we considered whether we should proceeded. It was over 100 degrees and there was no water. We decided to go on and pulled our rope and went on. We left our webbing, but you could ghost this rappel.

Down Canyon

The canyon was very rocky and heavily vegetated. Although the hike to the next rappel was only ½ a mile, it took considerable time. We had to climb over many boulders and fallen trees and through thick bushes and groves of poison oak. It was especially difficult with the heat, which in the canyon bottom was well over 90 degrees. Little pools of stagnant water appeared occasionally and Carrie fell into one.


Rappel 2

We reached the second rappel at about hour two. The best anchor was a stout bush to the right side, but it was in a precarious position and hard to rap as it was sitting on the side of the cliff. Keith made some protection from a smaller bush and used it to make the real anchor from the stout bush. We used the smaller bush as a rope backup. Fortunately, the stout bush held up well. Carrie rappelled (75 feet) first into “the pit of eternal stench” of
knee deep, pungent, stagnant muck. She climbed out onto an ant hill and was immediately swarmed by thousands of biting ants which forced her to reenter the pit of eternal stench. Keith rappelled next. We left our webbing, but this rappel could be ghosted.


Mill Creek

We packed the gear and continued down the mostly dry canyon. After a short while, we reached the Mill Creek confluence (34 16.742 W,118 12.542 W). Mill Creek was definitely wetter, but still very slimy and fairly stagnant. At this point we turned left and headed up Mill Creek, bushwhacking, wading, and occasionally backtracking to avoid a murky swim. We saw large tadpoles, fish, and some really nasty slimy guck. Eventually, we reached a very large swimming hole near a campsite. We found a faint trail and followed it to some ruins and a dirt road (34 16.741 N,118 12.196 W).


Hike Out

Now came the hardest and worst part of the trip. We followed the dirt road up to Big Tujunga Road (34 16.983 N,118 12.017 W). The map showed another dirt road that paralleled Big Tujunga Road and we thought would be a nicer walk back to our car on this dirt road. It turned out that the dirt road was a poor choice as it was in disrepair and involved a lot of difficult bushwhacking in over 100 degree heat. An hour later, we reached our car and raced down the mountain to cool off (our car is sans AC). By the time we got back to Sunland,
Carrie had developed heat exhaustion and was sick for the rest of the day.

Moral of the Story

Do not go into Fusier Canyon on the hottest day of the year.